Bull says he teaches students to engage with end-users, with the public, from the start. And he warns them that even the smartest, coolest devices won’t change the world unless they can change how people think and behave.

“Technology is not the biggest piece of the solution,” he says. “Without the social, cultural, political, economic, environmental pieces accounted for, whatever you do technically isn’t going to make a big difference.”

Building a better world, by design What if architects across America agreed to make every building they design 50 percent more energy-efficient — and keep improving until, by 2030, they're at carbon-neutral?

11 Big Ideas for Rhode Island Rhode Island has problems. We all know it. Unemployment, political corruption, the Providence College basketball team.

The Bard goes green Hark ye, eco-warriors, bearers of the canvas tote! Today's greenies could learn a thing or two from a country-bred Englishman who lived before automobiles and oil spills — William Shakespeare.

Generation Green Republicans have a lot to say about the immorality of saddling the next generation with our national debt. But when it comes to leaving them a wrecked, depleted, and rapidly warming planet, they are taking the exact opposite line.

Review: Left 4 Dead 2 When Valve announced a full-priced sequel to Left 4 Dead only one year after the original, 40,000 frustrated gamers joined an on-line boycott. The boycotters had a point, but they'll miss out if they stand on principle.

An Obama confidant on the surge in Afghanistan Twenty-four hours before President Barack Obama announced a 30,000-troop escalation of the Afghan War, one of his key foreign policy advisors provided a view of the president’s thinking at Brown University.

Review: New Super Mario Bros. Wii The staggering commercial success the folks at Nintendo have achieved in recent years has made it easy to overlook their more unfortunate habits.

SAVOR THESE URBAN (AND SUBURBAN) OASES | September 27, 2011 It's not a huge state, but Rhode Island, you may be realizing, is abuzz with activity. There's music, poetry, theater, gallery shows, social gatherings, and all sorts of events at the colleges.

REWRITING THE HISTORY OF CAPITALISM | March 30, 2011 Brown University president Ruth Simmons has made it hard to ignore the school's ties to slavery — and by extension, the ties of well-known Providence families.

GREENING THE KNOWLEDGE DISTRICT | March 09, 2011 Christopher Bull is on the engineering faculty at Brown University, but what he teaches is a vision. “We all bear some responsibility in the direction the world goes,” he says, “and we need to accept that responsibility and act on it.”

CATAPULTER WANTS YOU TO TRAVEL SMARTER | February 23, 2011 You’re headed to New York and you need to keep the trip as cheap as possible, but also want WiFi, so you can work. Or perhaps you’re due in Boston’s Back Bay area, ASAP, and you need the ride to be quick and direct, even if it costs a little extra.

AT RISD: 2X4S, TAPE, AND 'CO-HABITATION' | February 09, 2011 In photographs, it looks like a giant spider web. But up close, it's shiny and transparent under the golden light. It's big enough for a person to climb into and crawl through — or you can poke your head in from a hole underneath or on the sides.